Welcome to my working atlas of Valenor. I’ve been adding to it as I travel. I want to make my own record of all of the places I visit. I want to try to understand how the places feel and how they work and possibly how they link together. I am going to try to record different information to the standard city guides. If you are reading this over my shoulder, bear in mind it’s a work in progress.
— Fia
Bern –My Home
My home village, and the place I know better than anywhere, the place I grew into who I am. A small riverside settlement, quiet and practical, with good people who understand how things work and how to fix them when they don’t. I practiced as a Cord-Wright here, fixing everything people brought to me and patching up anything that needed it. The forests around Bern are older than most people realise, and some of the paths through them feel like they remember things.
I left Bern on the 20th of May. I don’t know exactly when I’ll be back, but wherever I go and however long I go for Bern will always travel with me.
Lethran – Visited
Arriving in Lethran always feels like meeting a friend I haven’t seen for ages. I stayed a few days at a snug little inn on the outskirts and worked through a long list of people to catch up with. The archive here is a wonder! The town records going back hundreds of years, kept in everything from skein bands to old paper journals. I also spent a morning at the Skein-Wright’s workshop and met Hollis, the Master Skein-Wright for Lethran. I left with more questions than I arrived with, including something about “Goose Paths” I’d never heard of before.
Brae Wood – Passed through
A beautiful place to walk. The bear stayed with me the whole way through, never quite leaving. I found a natural resonance grove here that seemed to be dying, with strange artificial mesh patches spliced into it. I’m still not sure what I think about that.
Eldran – Visited
The second city I’ve ever properly visited, and the first time I’ve been back since the start of my Cord-wright training. It’s still striking, but something feels different under the surface — less laughter than I remember, and an odd uniformity to the signs and Skein points that I can’t quite place.
I spent my first morning at the Alignment Liaison Office, hoping for answers about the strange Skein behaviour back in Bern. I got a very official explanation from an Agent named Corin Hale, all about new standardised fibres and a future Skein Hub that will eventually serve the outlying villages. He was patient, and certain, and I’m still not convinced.
The library here is a small sanctuary in a noisy city. I spent an afternoon in the local folklore section and found old naturalist notebooks describing decades of observations on the geese and the gold-backs. Their migrations have been growing more erratic for about seven years, and the routes seem to follow the same paths through the highest concentrations of natural resonance. One annotation has stuck with me: the gold-backs tread the goose paths into the land.
Out in the streets, the mood is harder to pin down. The river merchants are unhappy about new mandated routes from something called the Department of Pathway Compliance. The skein artificers don’t trust the new synthetic fibres. And the handful of Aethri I’ve seen keep to themselves, watched with a kind of quiet suspicion I haven’t seen anywhere else I’ve travelled.
I sat in on a town meeting at Caereth Hall and met Tobin Croflan, a Skein-Wright from a nearby village, and Elyr, an Aethri who asked the only question in the room that actually unsettled the officials. We’re having breakfast tomorrow. I have a feeling Eldran still has more to tell me before I leave.
Draeven — not yet visited
I’ve heard Draeven described as the place where things get built and connected. Infrastructure, pathways, systems. A working settlement rather than a grand one. I expect I’ll pass through eventually.
Sylvara — not yet visited
The oldest city in Valenor, by most accounts. Built with the forest rather than against it. I’ve heard it described as a place that feels woven into the land. I don’t know when I’ll get there but I have always wanted to visit.
Kethra — not yet visited
Experimental, adaptive, deeply connected to the Skein. People either find Kethra fascinating or overwhelming, depending on who you ask. I suspect I’ll find it both.
Aethryn — not yet visited
A quieter Aethri settlement, focused on resonance and reflection. I’ve been told it’s unlike anywhere else in Valenor. I’d like to see it.
More to come as I travel.
The Valenor Journals 